How to Craft Complex Plots by Introducing Side Quests
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While some writers struggle to restrain their novels to a standard length — always brimming with ideas for new conflicts and scenarios their characters might encounter — this isn’t the case for every writer. In fact, it’s not uncommon for novelists to struggle to write full-length books.
Sure, they might know what events will occur at all their story’s major beats (e.g., the midpoint, the inciting incident, the climactic sequence). But what about all the little scenes in between? How can novelists fill the gaps in their stories without writing filler and fluff?
One strategy is to give your characters a side quest. Not familiar with the term?
In video game lingo, a side quest is an objective (i.e., a goal) separate from the main storyline that players aren’t required to accomplish to finish the game. However, completing side quests can be a great way for players to explore the story world, develop important skills, and glean key gameplay tips and information, among other purposes.
From a developer standpoint, including side quests not only extends the length of the game; side quests can also help complicate the plot and further immerse players in the story. As it happens, novelists can achieve these same ends by including side quests in their own storytelling.
How do side quests manifest in fiction?
In novels, a side quest is not a single conflict, event, or subplot. Rather, it’s a sequence of events that takes place within the main storyline, in which the protagonist chases a secondary goal they believe will help them achieve their main story goal.
In many ways, a side quest is a story within a story. It has a strong beginning, middle, and end; a core conflict; and a climactic sequence — among other potential story elements. A prime example of a side quest can be found in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. (Detailed spoilers ahead!)
In the book, Katniss has one primary story goal: to survive the Games. She’s motivated by the need to return home to care for her family, especially her younger sister Prim. The source of the core conflict in the novel is the reality that only one competitor can survive the Games, meaning dozens of other contenders (called Tributes) would love to see Katniss dead.
Before the story’s midpoint, Katniss largely reacts to the story’s core conflict. She allows herself to be primped and presented before the Capitol, she does very little to make friends or allies during training, and, once in the arena, she runs and hides rather than seeking to kill her competitors.
However, everything changes at the story’s midpoint when Katniss attempts to hide from a group of Career Tributes in a tree. Upon finding her, the Careers determine to wait Katniss out, knowing she can’t stay up there forever.
Fortunately, a young Tribute named Rue helps Katniss escape. Having made an ally in Rue, Katniss’s first side quest begins.
Together, Katniss and Rue realize that their ability to hunt and forage offers no advantage in the Games because the Career Tributes have a cache of food. Thus, they decide to take proactive action by destroying the Careers’ food supply; this becomes Katniss’s secondary goal.
Side Quest: Destroy the Careers’ Food Supply
Katniss and Rue want to destroy the Career’s food supply but could be caught and killed in the process.
Katniss and Rue spend a day sharing information and devising a plan to destroy the Careers’ food supply. To enact their plan, Katniss hides in the brush outside the Careers’ camp while Rue lights several fires in the distance. As planned, the Careers leave camp to scope out the fires.
Realizing that the supply cache is likely surrounded by landmines, Katniss topples a bag of apples with an arrow. The apples trigger the landmines, and the whole supply cache explodes. Injured in the blast, Katniss hides nearby until her hearing and strength return.
When she’s well enough to walk, Katniss travels to the rendezvous point she established with Rue. Unfortunately, Rue isn’t there. After waiting for several hours, Katniss searches for Rue, finding her the moment that one of the Career Tributes kills her.
Katniss kills the Tribute, then sings to Rue as she dies. After surrounding Rue with flowers, Katniss leaves the area to avoid capture. Soon, she receives a gift from the people in Rue’s district: a loaf of bread. This gift is both fitting and thematic given Katniss’s secondary goal of destroying the Careers’ food supply.
See how a side quest can play out in fiction? Katniss didn’t need to destroy the Careers’ food supply to achieve her main goal of winning the Hunger Games. She could have simplified continued to hide from the Careers and forage food with Rue, hoping the Careers would kill one another first.
However, Katniss and Rue believed that achieving this secondary goal would help them gain an advantage over the Careers, ultimately furthering their mission in the Games — and it did, at least for Katniss.
This sequence of events takes place over four chapters, but introducing this side quest didn’t just allow Suzanne Collins to expand the length of her story. By talking with Rue, Katniss gleans key information about the Games, the arena, and her supplies. Collins also utilizes Rue to expand her story world. Rue shares many stories about District 11 with Katniss as they bond in the wake of the midpoint event.
Finally (and perhaps most importantly), Rue serves as a mirror for Prim. Rue’s death raises the story’s stakes by reminding Katniss that it’s not just her life at stake. If Katniss doesn’t win the Games and return home to District 12, then Prim will likely die of starvation.
Exploring various types of side quests
Can you see how introducing a side quest can be a powerful way to both expand the length of your book and deepen readers’ immersion in the story? In The Hunger Games, Katniss and Rue embark on a destruction-based mission. However, a side quest could also see your characters:
Collect important items
Pursue and capture (or kill) an enemy
Rescue another character from captivity
Protect a character, object, or stronghold from danger
Sneak through a dangerous area to deliver an item
Evade enemies and/or escape a dangerous situation
Achieve a particular task to gain reward
Compete against another character to gain reward
While these missions might sound exclusive to violent, high-stakes stories, that doesn’t have to be the case. In Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, Chloe and Red go on a camping trip to fulfill one of the items on Chloe’s Get-a-Life list. This sequence lasts several chapters and helps Chloe gain the reward of facing her fears and living a little.
Note that Hibbert didn’t necessarily need to include the camping trip in the story. Yes, Chloe’s goal is to complete her bucket list, which includes camping. But Chloe’s list largely consists of risky “bad girl” type activities that she thinks will finally make her life interesting.
Ultimately, what Chloe needs to lead a happier life isn’t to complete her bucket list. It’s to take a risk on the things that matter most in life, such as opening her heart to love. The camping trip sequence helps support this end goal by allowing Chloe to realize the depth of Red’s kindness and offering them both an opportunity to get to know one another more intimately.
How side quests interact with story structure
While you can implement a side quest at any point in your story, it’s worth noting that both of these examples occur in the second half of the character’s respective journey. This makes sense given that a story’s midpoint often prompts a pivotal shift in the protagonist’s mindset.
When working within the 3-Act Story Structure, a protagonist is largely reactive during the first half of the story’s rising action. Notice that I mentioned this reactive state when describing Katniss’s story above. The midpoint event acts as a fulcrum, tipping the protagonist into full awareness of the story’s stakes and, thus, into a more motivated and proactive state.
For example
In The Hunger Games, Katniss barely escapes the Career Tributes with her life during the story’s midpoint. This near-death experience reminds Katniss that if she doesn’t start fighting back, she’ll inevitably be hunted and killed. Thus, the quest to destroy the Careers’ food supply.
In Get a Life, Chloe Brown, the midpoint occurs when Chloe and Red attempt to cross “drunken night out” off Chloe’s Get-a-Life list. Before the night is through, both Chloe and Red acknowledge that there’s something electric between them, prompting both to pursue their budding romance on the camping trip and beyond.
All that said, it’s not uncommon for a protagonist to be given a side quest in the early chapters of their story. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf tasks Frodo with taking the Ring to Rivendell. Frodo accepts this quest but remains largely reactionary, allowing Aragorn to lead the way.
The midpoint occurs when Frodo is stabbed on Weathertop and realizes just how dangerous the quest can be. He assumes responsibility for the Ring at the Council of Elrond (thus taking up his main story goal) and ultimately chooses to abandon the Fellowship to keep his friends safe.
Regardless of where a side quest occurs, there’s no denying that this type of sequence can expand a book’s length by complicating the plot. In doing so, a side quest also holds the power to deepen a story’s characters and story world, ultimately making for a more immersive reading experience.
If you’re struggling to fill the gaps between your story’s major beats, then consider introducing a side quest to your story ASAP.
